Wendell Baker: The Martin Luther King of Huntsville

by Cheval John

Today begins the month of black history. Everyone knows about Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus in which it led to her arrest and started the protest in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. That led to the emergence of Martin Luther King, who organized and led protests in the South for civil rights. Everyone knows his famous speech “I Have a Dream” in Washington, D.C. in 1963. But few know about the Martin Luther King of Huntsville and Walker County, who organized and led protests for integration not only at Sam Houston State University, but also for the entire city of Huntsville. That man is Wendell Baker. He was born on November 13,1922 in West Walker County, Texas to Jesse and Fannie Baker. He was the eighth of ten children. He grew up in a farm in Walker County and learned the lessons of hard work and dedication from his parents. He was a very talented and smart person. He graduated from Sam Houston High School in Huntsville in 1939. He wanted to attend Sam Houston State Teachers College (now Sam Houston State University), but couldn’t because they did not accept African Americans. He served in World War II and after the war, he attended Texas Southern University and graduated in 1949 with a bachelors degree in chemistry. He had aspired to go to medical school and taught at Huntsville Intermediate School as a science teacher. With a wife and a growing family, he realized that he would not fulfill that dream. He was the chair of the science department there and continued to teach there until 1962 when he got fired for building his home near a new white subdivision. That not only changed the destiny of Mr. Baker, but would also change the destiny of Sam Houston State. In that same year, he got hired at the Goodyear Tire Company in Beaumont as a quality control specialist, making him the first African American technical professional in the Golden Triangle. He got promoted to chemical engineer in which that position increased his salary and it allowed him to be an activist for civil rights in Huntsville and Walker County. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed in Congress and the winds of integration began to shift. In that same year, Angie Kizzie applied to Sam Houston and was denied admission because of her race. The same thing happened to another black student. That led Mr. Baker, along with the Voter’s League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP) to file a suit with the federal district court. Before the suit could reach the court, the governor, knowing the negative publicity that they would recieve, ordered the Board of Regents to change the policy and admit black students. The board did just that and in that same year, John Patrick became the first African American to enroll at Sam Houston State. Since then, the university have a diverse student body. Mr. Baker continued his activism until Huntsville was fully integrated. He stayed with Goodyear until 1984. Now he is retired and still lives in Huntsville. Sam Houston State University is a much better place thanks to Wendell Baker, the Martin Luther King of Huntsville.